Teddy Bear Heir by Elda Minger Read Free Book Online Page A

his heart.
    Just until Nancy arrives...
    How she was going to explain this to either of them was beyond her comprehension. She was already way beyond rational thought. All she knew was that she needed this man, needed his warmth and strength, needed to feel close to someone when she felt so very alone.
    They lay that way for a time until emotion overcame her and she started to cry.
    "Oh, no," he whispered. "Oh, no. Don't cry, little one. Don't cry." He patted her back as she sobbed and curled into him.
    "Nothing has to happen," he whispered against her ear. "It was a foolish idea, after all."
    She sobbed harder, not wanting to make this evening more difficult for everyone concerned than it already was. But she couldn't seem to stop what she'd put in motion.
    She could hear deep concern in his voice. "Don't cry. It’s nothing that can't be repaired, after all." He cleared his throat. "I'll even subsidize your education until you get on your feet," he whispered, his voice rough with emotion. "I didn't stop to think financial desperation might have had a hand in your decision."
    A gentleman to the end, she thought wearily. A good man, a kind man.
    But a man incapable of love.
    Magnetic and persuasive. So very ardent and loyal to the end. But something had happened along the way that had shut off his belief in his ability to love.
    She wondered at his ability to offer her—not her, Nancy— reassurance, when he had to be in the midst of some inner turmoil of his own. Michaela sighed, her sobs spent, then realized she was pressed up against him, her fingers touching the naked, hair-roughened skin of his muscular chest.
    Naked. He was naked.
    So warm, so muscular. So very male.
    She curled her fingers into his side so tightly she knew she had to be causing him a certain amount of pain. He didn't say a word, merely let her hold on to him, touch him.
    "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice clogged and nasal. "I'm so very sorry."
    "It's all right," he murmured, still rubbing her back through her silk blouse.
    There was no excuse for what she did next. Looking back, she might have tried to blame it on the Scotch she'd shared with him, or the fact that she was emotionally exhausted. She might have tried to find some sort of excuse, a weakness, even the fact that she loved him.
    She barely knew him.
    But she wanted him.
    She'd never wanted a man more than she'd wanted Cameron Black. The thought of facing the rest of her life and knowing she'd never had the courage to reach out and take what she wanted most of all was intolerable. And unbearably painful.
    If she was destined to spend the rest of her life alone and unwanted, she'd take this one night to remember him by. She wanted to make love to this man just once, then slip out the door while it was still dark and never see him again.
    He would know. Nancy would know. Together they'd figure out someone else had been sleeping in their bed. But they'd never realize who it had been. Hadn't almost every woman in America been throwing herself at Cameron? Was it totally inconceivable that one of Cameron's groupies would've found a way into the master suite?
    And after their brief time together was over, Cameron and Nancy would have the rest of their lives together, while she'd only take this one night. Had Cameron been truly in love with Nancy, or she with him, Michaela knew she would've never contemplated what she was about to do.
    But they weren't. And she was. She loved him, she wanted him, she needed just one night with this man of her heart before she consigned herself to the emotional deep-freeze that was to be the remainder of her life.
    Still fully clothed, she moved, slid up and over him, pressed herself against him and lowered her mouth to his.
     
    * * *
     
    Her first kiss shook him to the bottom of his soul.
    Set fire   to his soul.
    Made angels sing.
    Completely demolished anything he'd ever thought about women, sex, love and desire.
    Shook him, stunned him, woke him up with a